The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (38 page)

  
He shouted up the stairs. ‘Jess, Nick, get your arses down here, now.’

  
Two anxious faces peered over the banister rail.

  
‘Coming.’ Jess stuck her chin out with determination.

***

  
As she and Nick walked into the lounge her dad stared so disapprovingly
that Jess’s heart sank to her boots and she grabbed Nick’s hand.

  
‘You wanted to speak to us, Dad?’
   

  
‘Sit down, Jess. You, too, Nick, over there.’ He pointed to chairs on
opposite sides of the room.

  
‘Where did you sleep last night, Nick?’ Eddie came straight to the
point.

  
‘Jess’s room,’ Nick said lowering his gaze.

  
‘And whose idea was that?’

  
‘Mine,’ Nick said. ‘I borrowed Jon’s alarm clock. It was supposed to go
off at six but it didn’t.’

  
‘So, that was the plan, was it?’ Roy
said. ‘You were going to sneak back to your room and no one would have been any
the wiser.’

  
‘Yes, Dad. I’m sorry, it won’t happen again,’ Nick muttered, staring
down at his feet.

  
‘Too bloody right it won’t. You’re a guest in this house; you don’t do
as you please. Remember what your mother told you the other night?’
  

  
‘Yes, Dad, I’m sorry, Mum.’ Nick hung his head.

  
‘And you, young lady, what have
you
got to say for yourself?’ Eddie switched his gaze to Jess.

  
She stared defiantly back at him, arms folded. ‘You’re a hypocrite,
Dad.’

  
‘Jess. Don’t you dare speak to your father like that.’

  
‘Well it’s true, Mum, he is,’ Jess said. ‘You all are. It’s one set of
rules for you and another for us. At least Nick and I have got
some
morals, for what they’re worth. Not like you lot!’
 

  
‘Jess, that’s quite enough,’ her mum said. ‘Now you apologise at once.’

  
But Jess was on her high horse and hadn’t finished. ‘
I
won’t get
pregnant until I want to. I know for a fact that Dad knocked Angie up before he
married her, and you, too, Mum. Nick was on the way before Roy
married Sammy. What sort of an example is
that
to set your kids?’ She jumped up and stormed out of the room, slamming the
front door behind her.

  
‘Go after her, Ed,’ Jane urged. ‘You can’t let her go like that.’

  
He flopped down on the sofa and shook his head. ‘No, she won’t want me. You
go, Nick, bring her back.’

  
Nick, white faced, stood up and left the room.
           

***

  
Eddie turned to Jane, who had an expression of shock on her face. ‘I
didn’t realise she had such a low opinion of us,’ he said. ‘She makes it sound
like we’ve the morals of alley cats. My first marriage has never been discussed
with the kids, apart from telling Jon about his mum. So how the hell did she
know that Angie was pregnant?’

  
‘Maybe she and Jon talk about these things between themselves,’ Jane said.
‘Let’s face it; not many get married from choice at eighteen, do they? They’ve
worked it out, they’re not daft.’

  
Sammy sighed. ‘What do we say to them now, when Nick finds her, I mean?’

  
Roy shrugged. ‘I don’t know.
I wasn’t expecting her to turn the tables on
us
. She’s a feisty little
piece.’

  
‘She’s never, ever spoken to me like that before,’ Eddie said. In spite
of her wayward ways, his precious daughter meant the world to him. He hated
falling out with her over anything. This was the worst row they’d had. With
shaking hands he lit a cigarette and drew on it as Jon and Jason strolled into
the lounge.

  
‘What was all that shouting about?’ Jason asked.

  
‘You know damn well what it was, Jason. You both knew Nick was in Jess’s
room, so don’t come the innocent with me,’ Roy
said.

  
‘Don’t take it out on Jason,’ Sammy said. ‘He might not have been aware
what they were up to.’

  
Roy raised his eyebrows.
‘For fuck’s sake, Sammy, of course he knew.’
                                                 
 

  
‘Don’t swear in front of him, either,’ Sammy snapped back.

  
Eddie diffused the situation by suggesting Jason and Jon go and do the
grocery shopping.
    

  
Jon nodded. ‘Mum, I’ve invited a couple of birds over later. We met them
last night. They’re from Pickford. I hope it’s alright in view of what’s
happened just now?’

  
‘It’s okay, Jon. Things should have quietened down by this evening. They
can eat with us. We’ll make a curry or something.’

  
‘Thanks, Mum.’ Jon and Jason hurried off with the shopping list.
 

***

  
Jess ran up the road onto Marine Parade and down the steps to the beach.
The pebbles crunched beneath her Doc Martens and her freshly washed hair
flapped damply around her face. Tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. She walked
towards the sea, sat down, and watched the waves lapping rhythmically onto the
pebbles. She felt terrible, wishing desperately that she hadn’t said those
things to her dad. He’d looked so hurt and hadn’t deserved any of it. He doted
on her and had given her everything she’d ever asked for, and Jess knew that
she’d always asked for a lot more than her fair share.

  
Back there she’d felt anger at the unfairness of it all. Why couldn’t
their parents’ see how much she and Nick meant to one another? It’s not as if
they needed permission to sleep together, after all, they were old enough and
Mum and Dad knew she was on the pill. But it would be nice to have their
approval or blessing, or something like that anyway. Not to be reprimanded like
a naughty kid caught stealing sweets in Woolies.
 

***

  
Nick walked along the promenade, scanning the beach for a sign of Jess.
He spotted her slim figure as she walked slowly along the sea edge and then
dropped down onto the pebbles, shoulders hunched. She was crying; he recognised
the stance. He ran down the nearest steps, sprinting across the beach to her
side. He took her in his arms and hugged her.

  
‘Come on, Jess, don’t cry, please. One more month and we’ll get our own
place, I promise. Even if we have to eat bread and water all week. We can live
on our love, can’t we?’

  
She smiled through her tears. ‘I love you, Nick Cantello. Don’t ever
leave me.’

  
‘Never, Jessie-Babes; we’ll be together forever, you and I.’
He wiped away her tears with the sleeve of his shirt. ‘Let’s go back to
Celia’s. Your dad’s very upset. I think you owe him a big apology.’

  
She nodded. ‘I do.’

  
They strolled hand in hand back to Dorset
Gardens where their mums were at
the kitchen table sorting through boxes of letters and photographs. They looked
up and smiled reassuringly as Nick and Jess walked in.
 

  
Their dads were still sitting on the sofa in the lounge.
  

  
‘Dad, I’m so sorry.’ Jess knelt in front of him and wound her arms
around his neck. She kissed him on the cheek.

  
He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. ‘I’m sorry too, Jess. I
should have spoken to you privately. Am I forgiven?’
  

  
‘Of course you are. I shouldn’t have said what I did about Angie and
Mum, and Roy and Sammy, it was very wrong of me. You’ve always done your best
for us, whatever the circumstances.’

  
‘Well maybe I deserved it, for the way I handled the situation.’ He
wiped her eyes and tilted her chin, a thing he’d done many times
when she was younger and had run to him crying for comfort. ‘Anyway, perhaps we
were being a bit old fashioned, so we’ve had a chat and made a decision. You
and Nick have our permission to share your room. We have no problem with it and
that includes your mothers.’

  
Jess was overwhelmed. She stood up and went to stand beside Nick who put
his arm around her shoulders. He looked towards their respective fathers.

  
‘Thank you, Eddie, and you too, Dad.’

  
‘Thank you, Dad.’ Jess smiled and then walked across the room and kissed
Roy who gave her a reassuring hug.

  
‘We all remember what it was like to be young, honestly. Hell, we still
are, aren’t we?’ he said.

  
Jess grinned up at him through her tears. Uncle Roy could always cheer
her up.
      

  
‘Go and help Mum sort out the kitchen cupboards. Me and Roy are going
out in a minute to see if we can find a furniture dealer. Nick can help Jon and
Jason in the cellars.’

  
‘Where
are
Jon and Jason?’ Jess looked around.

  
‘Shopping for groceries,’ Jane replied as she walked into the lounge.
‘All sorted?’ she asked and raised an enquiring eyebrow in Eddie’s
direction.
        

  
He nodded. ‘Least said soonest mended.’

  
‘Good.’ She held out her arms to Jess who moved into them.

  
‘Thanks for being so understanding, Mum.’

  
‘I almost started world war three with Gran the day I asked permission
to move in with your dad. It was “
Not
until you’re married, Jane. I don’t wish to discuss it any further!”
’

  
They all laughed at Jane’s perfect imitation of her mother.

***

CHAPTER FOUR

  
Jane peered through a cloud of steam as she drained a large pan of rice.

  
‘What did you say, Ed?’

  
‘Have we enough wine?’
 

  
‘Get a couple more bottles of white. We need poppadoms and mango
chutney, too. The boys forgot them this morning.’

  
Eddie left the house with Jon and Jason, who were off meet up with Helen
and Ronnie.
  

  
Sammy picked up a handful of cutlery. ‘Shall I set the big table in the
dining room? There won’t be enough space in the kitchen for us all.’
 

  
‘Yeah, that would be lovely.’ Jane followed Sammy into the high-ceilinged
room, with its ornate cornice and cast-iron fireplace. ‘It’s a beautiful room
and we never use it.’

  
A large shelving unit, filled with photographs and ornaments, spanned
the back wall. Jane picked up a pretty silver frame and stared at the photo of
Eddie, Angie and Jon taken on Jon’s christening day. She showed it to Sammy.

  
‘Put it away. Give it to Jon when you get home,’ Sammy advised. Jane
nodded. There’d been no love lost between her friend and Angie, for try as she
may, Sammy had never got on with Eddie’s late ex. Jane slipped the frame into a
drawer. She couldn’t face answering any awkward questions that the photograph
might prompt, especially with strangers coming for dinner.
 

  
Eddie arrived back with the supplies as Jon and Jason strolled in with
Helen and Ronnie.

  
‘Go through into the lounge, girls. Get them something to drink, Jon,’
Sammy ordered.

  
‘Coke okay for you both?’ Jon asked.

  
They nodded and followed Jason and Eddie.
 

***

  
‘Sit down, girls.’ Eddie gestured to the sofa.

  
Helen, looking at her mother’s former teenage heartthrob, said, ‘I’ve
heard so much about you. I feel I know you already.’

  
‘Is that right?’ Eddie smiled.

  
‘So, Helen, your mum was a Raiders fan,’ Roy
said as Jon handed out drinks.

  
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘A
big
fan.
She’s kept all-sorts of press cuttings and pictures. She’s also got a lock of
Eddie’s hair that her friend cut while his back was turned.’

  
‘Was your mum one of the girls who hung around the gates of Hanover’s
Lodge?’ Jane asked.

  
Helen laughed. ‘She used to skip school with her friends and spend all
day there.’

  
‘Are we eating yet?’ Eddie interrupted. ‘Me and Roy are starving.’

  
Jane rolled her eyes. ‘You two have got hollow legs. Go through to the
dining room, everything’s ready. Jon, shout Nick and Jess, please. They’re
upstairs, supposedly getting changed.’

  
‘Give ’em an inch,’ Sammy muttered as Jon bawled up the stairs.

  
Jess and Nick, faces flushed, came running down.

  
‘Hi again,’ Jess said, greeting the visitors with a smile. Helen and
Ronnie smiled back and took their places at the table.

  
‘Wine?’ Roy held the bottle
over Helen’s glass.

  
‘Just a drop, thanks.’
   

  
‘Ronnie?’ Roy waved the
bottle in her direction. She nodded.

  
Sammy and Jane carried in two huge bowls of curry and rice.

  
‘Get stuck in,’ Sammy ordered. ‘Guests first,’ she said as Roy’s
face lit up and he reached for the serving spoon. ‘He’s no manners,’ she told
Helen and Ronnie who giggled and the ice was broken.
  

  
‘Are you two at college?’ Jane asked the girls, pushing the rice bowl
towards them.

  
‘Still at school,’ Helen replied, digging in. ‘We’re doing GCSE’s. I
start college in September.’

  
‘And what about you, Ronnie, any plans?’ Sammy asked.

  
‘I hoping to do the NNEB,’ Ronnie replied, picking up a poppadum.

  
‘What’s that when it’s at home?’ Jess asked, frowning.

  
‘A Nursery Nursing course,’ Ronnie said. ‘I love kids. Want to work with
them.’
  

  
‘God, why would you want to work with ankle biters?’ Jess grimaced. ‘I
could think of better things to do with my life.’

  
‘Jess, that’s not very polite,’ Jane said. ‘At least Ronnie’s got some
sort of idea of the job she wants to do. It’s time you thought…’

  
‘Yeah, yeah, I know.’ Jess screwed up her face. ‘I’ll do something about
it when we get home.’

  
‘You can always come and help me and Sammy with our business,’ Jane
said, and helped herself to rice. ‘Damn, I didn’t put the mango chutney out.
Nip and get it for me will you, Jon? Put it in a small dish and bring some
teaspoons, too.’

  
Jon left the room as Jason turned to Helen. ‘Which college have you
applied to?’

  
‘Hollings, in Manchester. I
want to study dress design.’

  
‘I
go to Hollings, well, The
Toast Rack as we call it,’ Jason said. ‘I’m doing art and design, but Mum did
dress design there in the sixties, didn’t you, Mum?’
 

  
‘I did,’ Sammy replied, ‘for my sins. It’s a good college – you meet the
nicest people. You get to go to all the fashion shows. I could have gone to Paris
with my course, but Mum couldn’t afford it at the time. Still, I’ve been plenty
of times since.’
  

  
‘Have you ever been to Paris, Jason?’ Helen asked as Jon returned with
the bowl of chutney and sat down next to Jess.
  

  
‘Yeah, but not with college,’ Jason replied. ‘We go to France
a lot because we have a lovely house there and occasionally we drive across to Paris
for a few days so Mum can indulge herself.’

  
‘Oh, it’s my dream to go to a Paris
fashion show,’ Helen said. ‘I can’t wait.’
  

  
‘You met your best mate at The Toast Rack, didn’t you, Jase?’ Nick said
with a hint of sarcasm.

  
Jason blushed and nodded. ‘Yes, I met Jules there,’ he told Helen. ‘He’s
on the same course as me, but he’s
really
talented. You should see the bronze sculpture he did last term. It’s amazing.’
 

  
‘Sounds impressive,’ Helen said. ‘You’ll have to introduce me to him
when I start my course.’

  
‘Oh, you wouldn’t be interested in Jules,’ Nick said. ‘Or should I
rephrase that? Jules wouldn’t be interested in
you
. He bats for the other side.’

  
‘He does n
ot.
’ Jason punched
Nick on the arm. ‘You’ve only met him once, so how would
you
know?’

  
‘Nick, that’s enough,’ Sammy said. ‘Behave yourself in front of our
guests.’
 

***

  
Jon frowned at the exchange between the brothers. Why did Nick take such
delight in having a go about Jules, knowing full well how it riled Jason? Jess
tapped him on the arm.

  
‘Pass me the chutney, Bruv.’

  
‘Certainly, Sis.’ He picked up the bowl and dug a spoon in. ‘Where do
you want it?’ He grinned as she opened her mouth and he tipped a spoonful in,
watching Nick’s face closely. Jess licked the spoon clean while he held on to
it. At least it had stopped Nick taunting Jason. Two can play the teasing game.
He looked around the table. Mum and Sammy were chatting to Helen and Ronnie
about Paris, Dad and Roy were talking music. Jason was toying with his meal.

  
‘More chutney, Jess,’ Jon said after a while. She nodded and he popped
another spoonful into her mouth.

  
Nick got up from his chair and pushed it back so hard it hit the wall
unit. Everyone jumped as he stormed from the room.

  
‘What the hell’s wrong with
him
?’
Roy said as the door slammed
shut.
  

  
‘Don’t know.’ Jon winked at Jess who blushed slightly. ‘You’d better go
after him. Don’t think he liked me spoon feeding you,’ he whispered.

  
She got to her feet. ‘I’ll go and sort him out.’

  
Helen and Ronnie offered to wash up as Jess left the room. They carried
the plates and dishes to the kitchen with Jane and Sammy.

  
‘Fancy a bit of a jam?’ Roy
suggested. He and Eddie made their way into the lounge and tuned up the
guitars. Jason set up his keyboard and Jon grabbed a set of tom toms.

  
‘We’ll run through the new songs,’ Roy
said. ‘Somebody give Nick and Jess a shout.’

***

  
Nick lay on the bed in Jess’s room, arms behind his head. He felt bad
for teasing Jason. He was always touchy where Jules was concerned. He was well
pissed off with Jon though. Spoon-feeding Jess the chutney like that. Why
couldn’t he have just lobbed it onto her plate? But it was her fault for
opening her mouth. Jon was always hugging and teasing her, but then he was her
brother, and maybe that’s what brothers did. How the hell would
I
know? Nick thought. I haven’t got a
bloody sister and you don’t hug brothers like that, or at least he didn’t hug
Jason, except on his birthday, but it was more like a pat on the shoulder than
a hug.

  
The door opened and Jess slid into the room. ‘There you are. Why did you
dash off like that?’

  
‘Don’t know,’ he shrugged. ‘Jon pissed me off, being touchy feely with
you again.’

  
‘Don’t be so daft,’ she said, sitting on the bed and stroking his cheek.
‘He was just messing, that’s all. And you
weren’t very nice to Jason. You should apologise. Come on, sit up, give me a
kiss and then we'll go downstairs. Dad’s shouting us. They want to play for
Helen and Ronnie.’
 

  
Nick sat up and took her in his arms. He kissed her long and hard. ‘I
love you,’ he said.

  
‘And I love you.’ She pulled him to his feet. ‘Better now?’

  
He nodded and followed her out of the room.

***

  
Jess picked up her bass, Eddie handed Nick his Strat and the house was
filled with music.

  
The Zoo
gave their first
rendition of the, as yet untitled, new songs, Nick and Jess’s voices blending
as perfectly as their respective fathers did.

  
‘Any requests?’ Eddie asked as the evening wore on.

  
‘
My Special Girl
, please, Dad,’ Jess suggested.

  
‘Okay, why not? Ready, Roy?’

  
Jane and Sammy looked at one another. The song always transported them
back to the long ago night when they’d first heard it. It still had the power
to bring a lump to their throats. Written by Eddie and Roy while on the road
touring, the ballad was dedicated to their girls and was
The Raiders
first big hit.

  
Helen smiled. ‘I’ve heard Mum play the record so many times,
I know every note. It was lovely, thank you very much.’

  
After Helen had taken photographs of everyone for her mum, Jon ordered a
taxi to take the girls back to Rottingdean and Roy
handed over money for the fare. Jon promised to call Helen the following day
and kissed her goodnight.

  
Jason shyly hugged Ronnie who grabbed the opportunity to peck his cheek.
He smiled and said he’d talk to her when Jon called Helen.

  
‘What lovely girls,’ Sammy said, closing the front door after waving the
taxi off.
 

  
‘They were.’ Jane flopped down on the rug in front of the gas fire.
‘I’ve a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of them.’
                                           

  
‘I’m going up to bed.’ Jon yawned. ‘I’m shattered after that cellar clearing.
I’ll see you in the morning. G’night, all.’

  
‘Night, son,’ Eddie said as Jane blew Jon a kiss.
  

  
Jason stood up. ‘I’m off then as well. See y’all.’

  
‘Night, boys,’ Sammy and Roy chorused.

  
Nick and Jess looked at each another and at their respective parents.

  
‘Err, anyone mind if
we
go up?’ Nick asked.

  
‘Of course not,’ Jane said. ‘See you in the morning,’ she added as they
hurried out of the room.

  
‘Yes, g’night everybody,’ Jess called over her shoulder.

  
‘Shall
we
hit the sack?’ Roy
pulled Sammy to her feet.

  
‘What about you, Jane?’ Eddie sat down beside her on the rug and put his
arms around her.

  
‘Let’s stay down here for a while.’
   

  
‘For old times sake?’
         

  
She nodded, eyes sparkling as she kissed him.

  
‘What am I missing?’ Roy
looked puzzled.

  
‘Tell you when you go upstairs,’ Sammy said. ‘Night, you two, have fun.
Come on, you.’ She pushed Roy
outside, turned off the main lights, leaving the room romantically bathed in
the soft glow from the table lamps, and quietly closed the door.